To pull the engine or not?

[jetco]

I recently purchased a 2001 Camry CE, 4 cylinder, 5 speed manual transmission.

It has 160K miles on it and is still on the original timing belt. Of course changing the timing belt (and water pump and pulleys) was at the top of my short list.

Next, I strongly suspect that I have an intake leak, and pulling the manifold and changing the intake gasket and injector seals was second on my list.

Well last week the clutch went out with absolutely no warning. It has always seemed stiffer than the clutch on a previous Camry that I had, but still worked OK. It suddenly got very soft and wouldn't even hold in first gear . It is not driveable. I suspect a cracked diaphragm spring, but whatever it turns out to be, the clutch has to be done.

Now any one - or any two - of these would be easy to do as individual repairs. (I am a little concerned about doing the R&R of the intake manifold with the engine in the car, but only because I've heard that it's a real pain to get to the bolts and I have never done it before.)

I am now thinking that I might be better off pulling the engine and doing all three of these repairs at the same time. Is there anyone who has an opinion on whether or not I should pull the engine for these repairs?

Also, if I do pull the engine, is it doable (or viable) to leave the manual trans in the car when pulling the engine?

[carsrus]

Very, very rare for intake gaskets to be leaking.

I wouldent pull the engine to do the clutch, and pulling it for t belt or possible intake gasket job would be overkill.

[JohnGD]

See also:
Clutch Replacement Write-Up

[jetco]

Originally Posted by carsrus

Very, very rare for intake gaskets to be leaking.

Thanks for your thoughts. I hadn't adequately diagnosed what I think is a manifold leak when the clutch failed.

What I have mainly noticed is that the throttle is very sensitive around "power on" to "coasting" conditions and you have to be very careful with the throttle to get consistently smooth shifts. I have also noticed a faint smell of fuel when releasing the clutch from a standing start if the RPM's get very low. (It is particularly noticeable when starting up a hill in San Francisco!) This fuel odor isn't from the exhaust. It is from the engine compartment. (I don't find any leaks in the fuel lines or when the engine is running or not. Again, this fuel odor is very faint and only occasionally. The exhaust is quiet and I do not think I have any leaks there. Lastly, the mileage is poor (about 22 mpg) around town, but over 35 mpg on the road. A previous 5 speed Camry I had consistently got around 26 mpg in town and 32 mpg on the highway. I've only owned this particular Camry for about 4000 miles.

I do suspect that this is a single issue, and what I think is quite possibly a manifold leak.
Initially I thought it was just a dirty throttle body, so I took it off and thoroughly cleaned it. There was no change in running characteristics.

If this doesn't sound like a manifold leak to you, do you have any thoughts on other possible issues?

[Chris Crash]

You've got a 5 speed and a 4 cylinder engine, shouldn't take you too long at all to pull the engine and transmission out together, do the clutch, timing job, and whatever else you can while you've got it out, and put it all back together.

If you've got experience, I'd say a weekend would be enough time.

I've pulled the same combo of engine/trans out so many times it's nuts, if you need help message me!

[Zembonez]

Another vote for just pulling the engine and trans as a unit if you have the facilities and some air tools. I know it sounds drastic, but it's not all that hard if you have a little experience.

[93cr250]

we pulled my 4cy and auto trans out of my 95 in one day, put timing belt, oil pump, and water pump in the new motor, then spent another day putting it in. Wasn't hard at all, just time consuming, but my dad is a mechanic so we had access to a hoist and lots of air tools. You may be better off leaving it in if you plan on working on it in your driveway or something like that.

[deejayphilo]

Am not a mechanic I pulled my engine together with the tranny for 4hours...and i have bigger engine its 1mzfe...

[jetco]

Thanks again for all the thoughts so far. I am leaning towards pulling the engine - especially if it is possible to leave the trans in the car. I did change out an engine in an '83 Camry, but that was nearly 20 years ago and I can't absolutely remember if I pulled the trans at the same time or not. I am pretty sure that I left the trans in place though, and of course a gen 4 car is somewhat different that a gen 1 car.

The Haynes manual I have alludes to the possibility of being able to remove the engine alone if you remove the crankshaft pulley, but does not actually say that it is doable.

Has anyone pulled an engine by itself - or attempted to and not been able to do it?

[Chris Crash]

Originally Posted by jetco

Thanks again for all the thoughts so far. I am leaning towards pulling the engine - especially if it is possible to leave the trans in the car. I did change out an engine in an '83 Camry, but that was nearly 20 years ago and I can't absolutely remember if I pulled the trans at the same time or not. I am pretty sure that I left the trans in place though, and of course a gen 4 car is somewhat different that a gen 1 car.

The Haynes manual I have alludes to the possibility of being able to remove the engine alone if you remove the crankshaft pulley, but does not actually say that it is doable.

Has anyone pulled an engine by itself - or attempted to and not been able to do it?

You can if you remove the crank shaft pulley, separate the transmission, and push the transmission towards the drivers side wheel and let it rest on the subframe.

But with that much work involved, it's much easier to pull them both out together.

Separating and re-assembling the transsmission to the engine is 509876 times easier with the engine and transmission out of the car.

Just trust me.

[Mister_Perkins]

+2

Pull it, fix it, drop it, drive

[93cr250]

Originally Posted by deejayphilo

Am not a mechanic I pulled my engine together with the tranny for 4hours...and i have bigger engine its 1mzfe...

we didnt work on it all day, it was a slow day at work for my dad so he just worked on it when he had spare time, it wouldnt have mattered how fast we got it out anyway because we werent getting the new motor for another week